Red Crescent seeks help in Darfur

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Food and medicine is starting to reach victims of Sudan's Darfur crisis, but the need is so great and getting it there so difficult, that much more aid is needed, Sudan's Red Crescent Society said yesterday.

The group's secretary-general, Omer Osman, said a lack of funds was worsening the disaster in the region, where about one million people have been driven from their homes in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"The major challenge that we are facing is capacity... the magnitude of the humanitarian problem is so large that it makes logistics and communications very difficult," Osman said in Johannesburg during a meeting of international aid groups.

Government-backed Sudanese Arab militias, accused of killing and looting rampages, have driven more than one million black Africans from their homes in Darfur, an area the size of France.

A UN security council resolution has given Sudan's government about three weeks to show it is serious about disarming the militias or face possible sanctions.

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Osman said more than 2,400 Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers were working in Darfur and were helping to distribute food aid channelled by the UN World Food Program (WFP).

"That operation is working. We are currently serving about 600,000 persons in Darfur with food from WFP and non-food items, including cooking utensils, blankets and tents," he said.

"But the relief items are not enough, particularly for health care. Medicines, drugs, the supplies to organise meaningful health intervention are not available. And with the rainy season things will deteriorate."

Aid officials say that while wealthy governments have increased pressure on Sudan's government to find a political solution to the violence in Darfur, they have been slow to contribute to relief efforts in the region.

The UN is about $US100 million ($A140.54 million) short on requests for $US349 million for humanitarian work in Sudan from March to December.

The WFP says it has received $US78.5 million of the $US195 million it needs for Darfur emergency food aid this year.

The UN has received only $US6.1 million to spend on clean water and sanitation, which could save thousands of lives if the current rainy season leads to outbreaks of cholera.

Osman said efforts were under way within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent network to "fill the gaps" in the relief drive - particularly drugs and medical supplies to help as many as two million people in need.

Further help was needed to coordinate getting help to the people who need it most, he said.